Role of Government

For so long simply seen as an adventure playground for gap year students or a breeding ground for sportsmen, Australia has now graduated into the world of big players.

Wannan pines for the good old days in Australia when central planners controlled the entire child care industry. Federal subsidies were once handed out exclusively to the non-profit sector and operators were told where they could open. The result was a dysfunctional system incapable of meeting parent demands. But according to Wannan this was “one of the best child care systems in the world.”

It goes without saying that the federal government will help pay for the recovery of Louisiana and Mississippi. But once the emergencies have been addressed and the disaster-stricken areas are back to normal (or as back to normal as one can hope), lawmakers at the federal and state level should take a sober look at who should be responsible for minimizing the damage of future disasters.

The special interest groups who want to keep inexpensive bikes out of consumers’ hands include the Syndicat des Metallos, which doesn’t like competition from countries where labour gets relatively lower wages (because of underdevelopment).

Terry Anderson and Peter Hill make an argument that suggests that democracy does not scale well. As the size of the constituency group gets large, the politician becomes less accountable. Politicians find it easier to extract rents and abuse powers

In Manitoba almost half the children under five are in some form of child care. That’s up from two in five children in 1995.